Monthly Archives: August 2018

Rulers everywhere tend to treat trenchant criticism as attempts to excite disaffection and disloyalty. That is perhaps the only reason that Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, enacted under colonial rule, remains on the statute book. There have been repeated instances of its misuse. Regimes at the Centre and …

Emerging market economies continue to be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as their currencies resume their prolonged slide against the U.S. dollar. The Indian rupee weakened past the 71 mark for the first time ever on Friday, registering a loss of about 10% of its value against the …

In what can only be considered a prophetic coincidence, the online version of the Port Blair-based newspaper Andaman Chronicle , carried, on August 2, two very interesting and instructive news reports related to the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands. A big meet One of the reports was about a development …

Once renowned as an export powerhouse, Kanpur’s tanneries are perceived to be the primary source of industrial pollution in the Ganga. Jacob Koshy reports on the embattled industry’s struggle to stay afloat in the face of rising compliance costs and an increasingly hostile business environment A year into her marriage, …

The first round of the India-U.S. 2+2 talks at the level of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and their counterparts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis is scheduled for September 6 in Delhi. It is a significant development but one that …

In October 2017, when four kangaroos arrived at the Alipore Zoological Gardens from the Kanazawa Zoo of Japan, officials at the Alipore facility had not thought that the marsupials would start breeding in less than a year. On Friday, a baby kangaroo emerged from its mother’s pouch. This appearance prompted …

A robot submarine able to hunt and kill the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish devastating the Great Barrier Reef was unveiled by Australian researchers on Friday. Scientists at Queensland University of Technology said the robot, named the RangerBot and developed with a grant from Google, would serve as a “robo reef protector” …

China will restrict the number of video games and take steps to curb playing time by minors to address growing rates of childhood visual impairment as the government steps up its crackdown on the world’s biggest online gaming market. A statement posted on the Education Ministry website late on Thursday …

Two Indians, Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk, on Friday received the Ramon Magsaysay award, popularly known as Asia’s Nobel Prize. Cambodian activist Youk Chhang, Filipino Howard Dee, Vietnam’s Vo Thi Hoang Yen and East Timor’s Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz were also honoured for their work at a ceremony in …